Monday morning, barely two weeks after the release of the long awaited 2.0.1 firmware upgrade, came the iPhone 2.0.2 upgrade! While highly anticipated, this release comes as quite a shock for many iPhone users, as there are still mixed reports as to exactly what has changed. Some claim increased performance, while others claim no relief whatsoever.

At least one individual has reported issues upgrading their Apple System Software Update Firmware 2.0.2 for 1st Generation (EDGE/2G), so as I did two weeks ago, I am providing a “backdoor” way of accessing the file, and forcing a manual iPhone firmware update.

FIRST… Sync your iPhone so that you have a recent and accurate backup.

Follow this link to download the Firmware Update 2.0.2 for 1st Generation (EDGE/2G).

Open iTunes

Click [Shift] + “Check for Updates” to initiate a Manual Update.

Select the file from STEP 2.

Now wait… it will reset your iPhone, update the firmware, and restore from your backup.

This morning, the internet experienced an information explosion as news of the iPhone 2.0 update flooded the channels of Twitter and Plurk, as well as many other Blogs and Social Networks. I posted on Plurk early this morning about the fact that though the iPhone 2.0 software upgrade isn’t available through the iTunes interface (as of yet), some of us have figure out a backdoor way of accessing the file, and forcing a manual iPhone firmware update.

FIRST… Sync your iPhone so that you have a recent and accurate backup.

Follow this link to download the iPhone 2.0 firmware update file.

Open iTunes.

Click [Shift] + “Check for Updates” to initiate a Manual Update.

Select the file from STEP 2.

Now wait… it will reset your iPhone, update the firmware, and restore from your backup.